4.07.2011

Loving Lukshon.

Last week Summer graced Los Angeles with its presence and people flocked to outside patios for Happy Hour, myself included. We dined al fresco in the upscale minimalist patio of Sang Yoon’s Lukshon in Culver City, who is best known for his killer burgers at Father’s Office.

Craving a refreshing dish to cool us down, we dove into deer island scallops with water chestnut cucumber relish and prawn salt. The perfectly paired ingredients were so fresh and so fragrant. Like a work of art I could touch, and taste.

As I bit into a baby Monterey squid with chiang mai pork sausage, candlenut, mint and rau ram, the thin layer of squid burst and flavorful sausage cascaded into my mouth. Yes, I know... "that's what she said." That's the only way I can describe the experience!

My favorite was the popular spicy chicken pops with shelton farms’ drumettes, garlic, kecap manis and spicy sichuan. The meat was so tender and the spicy flavor perked my whole body up. I’d never seen a drumette like this. Looks like they gathered all the chicken on the bone to one end (looked like a palm tree) and then fried it. I could have eater two dozen.

I typically stay away from fish served with their heads entact (freaks me out), but I decided to be adventurous tonight. The whole steamed fish with Taiwan spinach, black bean ghee and sambal ijo was so thick and so tender. Wow. My fork dug in and scooped up the thick flesh like a knife cutting through warm butter. Aside from a few small bones that I had to eat around, I devoured the buttery white fish.

To accompany the fish we ordered the roasted eggplant, which tasted like it had the same spice mix as the drumettes and were paired with a cooling cucumber yogurt garnish.

We didn't order dessert but were brought an amuse bouche of two flavorful mousses.

The service was excellent and close attention to detail was definitely thought about for every touch point. Our waiter served us complimentary flat or sparkiling water and our glass was refilled when it was ½ way empty. Our waitress recommended a perfect sparkling white wine that perfectly complemented our Asian fare.